The Islamic State, through their various supporters on Twitter, released several images from fighting near Kobane in northern Syria. As I noted in The Long War Journal, since 2012, Kobane has been controlled by the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish force affiliated with the Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. The YPG have since considered Kobane to be part of Rojava, or Syrian Kurdistan.The Islamic State first tried to seize Kobane in July, but was fended off by the YPG, with the likely help of the PKK. Since then, there has been sporadic fighting between Kurdish forces and the Islamic State in the surrounding villages. However, for the past few weeks, the Islamic State has launched a wide scale assault on Kobane.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based agency with contacts in Syria, hasreported that around 325 villages and towns around Kobane have been captured since they began their offensive a few weeks ago. They also report that up to 800 Kurdish citizens and/or fighters have been killed fighting around Kobane.

The strategic city of Kobane, if captured, would give IS new access to supply routes in Turkey and would further their consolidation in northern Aleppo. The Washington Post is reporting that US airstrikes have struck IS targets near the Kurdish city. They report, "The U.S. military’s Central Command reported Saturday that a building and two armed vehicles used by Islamic State forces were destroyed at the Kobane border crossing as part of seven airstrikes carried out Friday and Saturday by U.S. and allied military forces across Syria." But these strikes seem to be doing very little to stop or reverse the IS assault--leaving over 80% of the residents to flee to Turkey.

These photos show a heavy assault on the city, using mortars and various heavy weaponry. These photos were released by Wilayat Raqqa, but it is worth noting that Kobane is in Aleppo. It is likely fighters within Wilayat Raqqa are taking part in the offensive. Some pictures may be graphic in nature.